The American film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's internationally best-selling Swedish mystery novel The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo now has a December 2011 release date.

The American film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's internationally best-selling Swedish mystery novel The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo now has a December 2011 release date, announced entertainment news site Deadline on July 20.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, along with the other two novels in Larsson's Millennium trilogy, have already been adapted into Swedish films that were first released in 2009 and are now releasing internationally.

David Fincher, director of Panic Room, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and upcoming film The Social Network, will direct the American film adaptation of Dragon Tattoo. British actor Daniel Craig is reportedly being considered for the lead male role, publisher Mikael Blomkvist. Who will play the complex role of Lisbeth Sander is a hot topic for discussion; Ellen Page (Juno), and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) are said to be in the running. Other contenders, according to Deadline, include Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Sara Snook (Sleeping Beauty), Rooney Mara (The Social Network) and Sophie Lowe (Blame).

Stieg Larsson's Millennium series first made bestseller lists in Sweden after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was published in 2005. The original Swedish novels and their subsequent translations have gone on to top bestseller lists around the world, selling more than 30 million copies worldwide.